A Mediterranean slipper lobster, Scyllarides latus (Latreille, 1802), was found near Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. It was conspicuously fouled by bryozoans which is a rare occurrence for lobsters in general, including this species. Based on its size, it was estimated to be an adult with an age of eight years and is eight months post-molt. Five erect branching Crisia sp. cyclostome colonies were found on the dorsal surface of the lobster. The potential costs and benefits of this rare epibiotic relationship for the lobster and the bryozoans are reviewed. The goal of this paper is to describe this rare relationship between epizoic bryozoans and a slipper lobster.

Key, Marcus M., Jr., and Sebastian H. Decker. Fouling of the Slipper Lobster, Scyllarides latus, by Cyclostome and Ctenostome Bryozoans in the Mediterranean Sea off Malta. In Bryozoan Studies 2022: Proceedings of the Nineteenth International Bryozoology Association Conference (Dublin, Ireland, 22-26 August 2022), edited by Marcus M. Key, Joanne S. Porter, and Patrick N. Wyse Jackson, 47-53. Boca Raton:, CRC Press, 2023.

Marcus Key is the Joseph Priestley Professor of Natural Philosophy at Dickinson College.

For more information on the published version, visit Taylor and Francis's Website. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.1201/9781003454915/bryozoan-studies-2022-marcus-key-joanne-porter-patrick-wyse-jackson

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